Their riff had the pleasant tang of a pitch meeting as the pair recounted the tale of wannabe director A. J. Nelson aka Vic Savage who made the 1964 horror flick “The Creeping Terror,” which has been deemed the “worst movie ever.” Though the competition for that prize is always stiff. (The movie is at the bottom 100 films on IMDB.com)

Schuermann and his producer were sure the better story — and film — resided in Nelson. He was a con who used making a movie as another way to make bucks and wield sexual power. Or as Schuermann writes on his site: “The story behind the film contains all of the elements of classic moviemaking that director A.J. Nelson would have killed to have in The Creeping Terror. Tales of sex, drugs, rape, money scams, high comedy, pedophilia, heartbreak, bank robberies, Nazis, missing persons, suicide, false identities, and ties to the Manson murders…”

The tagline? “The Real Monster Was Behind the Camera.” Actually, Schuermann and his team are pretty expert at turning a marketing phrase. Here are a couple others: “So bad it’s creepy” and “The Scandalous Making of the Worst Movie Ever.”

Mad Moviegoer first met Schuermann when “Haze” his deeply empathetic documentary about the death of University of Colorado student Lynn Gordon “Gordie” Bailey after a night of frat-house binge drinking. So this new project about a nasty character who created a laughable monster flick was a hoot and unexpected. (And Schuermann’s idea about weaving re-creations, documentary interviews and archival footage is appealing.)

Now, as they say, “It’s Alive!” Okay not quite. But Schuermann & Co’s Kickstarter Campaign launched last week with a gathering at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Asked how it went, the director replied via email “We had a ‘sold out’ attendance (basically meaning no more people could fit into our event room), plenty of donations, lots of fun interactions with our first-ever public appearance of the monster and much general merry-making.”

A week into the “Creep!” crowd-funding push, they’ve made more than $5,600 with a goal of $65,000 to be reached by May 12, 1:14 pm EDT.

Lisa Kennedy has been The Denver Post film critic for quite a spell. The job returned her to the town she grew up in after 20 years of living elsewhere: mostly in New York City. During the time she's been back, she was voted into the National Society of Film Critics, a first for a Colorado reviewer. When she began Diary of a Mad Moviegoer, she wasn't just cribbing from Tyler Perry. In fact, she seldom goes all Madea on movies, thinking the gig is more like a conversation than a competition about who's right about which flick.